QR Codes and the Damage (to be) Done?
When we were looking at putting out our Websense Security Labs predictions for 2012, we knew that mobile threats were going to be big this year. While we included one prediction on it, there was one piece that I had thought of, but didn’t include. It’s still a ways away, but Paul Henry has an excellent write up on “QR Codes – Leading Lambs To the Slaughter.”
He correctly points out that these “ultimate url-obfuscators” can be a serious threat down the line.
It’s a good reminder that any applications on workforce mobile devices need to be properly sandboxed from the operating system. We’ve already noted in Websense Security Labs research that there are challenges with certain platforms and there are a number of mobile malware variants, including Trojans on handhelds.
It’s interesting to think QR codes as threats continue to evolve in the mobile landscape. What’s funny is as I was writing this, our Security Labs researches discovered QR codes being used a new way – through a spam campaign.
What do you think about QR codes?